Football hazing scandal 'a kick in the gut'

Kevin CooneyOf Calkins Media

Two and a half weeks ago, Mike Pettine Sr. sat in a luxury box at Cleveland's FirstEnergy Stadium with 20 of his former Central Bucks West players, sitting and watching his son Mike, a CB West graduate and the head coach of the Browns, and his coaching staff that is comprised of a lot of former Bucks County players beat the Pittsburgh Steelers.

"We had a really good time," Pettine said proudly.

It was a symbol of everything that he had built in the CB West program, a family atmosphere and success that had made the Bucks the envy of Pennsylvania football and celebrated across the country.

And while a second split of the school district and changing demographics had taken the Bucks from state championship powerhouse to occasional District 1 playoff participant in the 15 years since Pettine's retirement, that glow of prestige was still burning pretty strong.

And yet, as the calls rolled in Thursday afternoon and the news of a hazing scandal in the football program at the school began to crackle across the national news wires, Pettine knew what this all would mean.

"The CB West program was built in part from some glory days," Pettine said by phone. "Now, unfortunately, this news might trump what other people remember. It's a bad situation anyway you look at it.

"When you throw the stone in the lake, there is a ripple effect. Whether it's fair or not, the CB guys past and present are feeling the fallout.

"It's a kick in the gut."

The final two games have been lost in the 2014 season. More importantly, a lasting reputation that has extended back to Pettine's first year of 1967 as a symbol of civic pride may have also been ripped away forever.

"To sum up, it's a black eye for the program," Pettine said. "I'm sure it will go nationwide and get piggybacked with Sayreville (N.J., which canceled its season due to a hazing scandal a few weeks ago.) I feel bad for the coaches and bad for the innocent players that are getting pulled down with this."

Pettine made it perfectly clear that he thinks current Bucks head coach Brian Hensel and his staff were not aware of any wrongdoing by his players.

"I know a lot of the coaches and they are good men," Pettine said. "I'm confident that in no way shape or form that they condoned this or knew what was going on."

Instead, Pettine placed the burden of responsibility on the senior captains of the group.

"I was fortunate over the years with a few exceptions to have great captains," Pettine said. "We always told the team the captains were the extension of the coaches. They would nip it in the bud. You need that good leadership and it was clearly missing at this point."

Hazing has been present in sports for generations, but Pettine said that he remembered most of it being in good fun.

"There were a few times when some of the veterans got a hold of some guys and they came up with stuff that was inappropriate," Pettine said. "I told the rookies if something else was happening, they were to tell me. But I'm sure a veteran did something to a rookie that someone did something uncalled for and I wasn't told about it.

"You just hope you have good leadership and good choices. In this case, it seems that didn't happen."

And now, everyone will pay. A coaching staff may have lost their collective careers over it. Players have lost the chance to play, even if it was just two games at the end of an otherwise forgettable season of 2-6.

Most importantly, a town may have lost a pretty good chunk of its identity and its legacy. Doylestown had a trio of nationally recognized names or groups -- James Michener, Pink, CB West football.

CB West football probably will never get looked at in some quarters the same way again. The man who built the legacy seems to understand it.